Muslims React

Suspect's name raises fear of a backlash against Muslims

Still reeling from the fallout of Sept. 11, Muslims worried Thursday that they will once again be targeted--and their reputations tainted--because a suspected killer has a Muslim last name.

"We shouldn't be held accountable any more than the Christian community should be accountable for Timothy McVeigh," said Najee Ali, a civil rights activist and member of the Chicago-based Muslim American Society, or MAS. "No Muslim in his right mind would hurt another human being."

Still, as soon as it was revealed that John Allen Muhammad is a convert to Islam, speculation grew about his possible Muslim ties.

The sniper's apparent use of the phrases "word is bond" (recited by police in their communications with him) and "I am God" (left for police on a Tarot card) led some observers to suggest that Muhammad was part of a religious group called the Five Percenters.

Also known as the Nation of Gods and Earths, the group was founded in the 1960s by a former member of the Nation of Islam.

The group teaches about "the 5 percent," righteous teachers who preach the divinity of black men.

But the Five Percenters' national secretary, Knowledge Me, said from New York that although the group does use the phrases, he has never heard of Muhammad--and that members of the group do not use the name Muhammad.

Although some authorities have linked Five Percenters to gang violence, Me said the group rejects violence by members or non-members.

"We have to constantly defend ourselves," Me said. "We need to hold a press conference so we can make it known who we are."

Muslim organizations in the mainstream also are gearing up for potential fallout.

"There's a great sense of fear and uncertainty in our community right now," said Ali of the MAS, the nation's largest African-American Muslim organization. "Our immediate concern is that there will be a rush to judgment where Muslims will be targeted with hate and violence, reminiscent of the Oklahoma bombing as well as 9/11."

The Nation of Islam, the Chicago-based organization led by Louis Farrakhan, did not respond to calls asking for a reaction to the arrests.

More than a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Muslims said they continue to feel fear and mistrust despite a decline in overt backlash. And African-American Muslims, Ali said, are likely to feel doubly afraid in the coming days.

"Because the suspect is an African-American male," he said, there is concern that all African-American men will be "stereotyped as being violent anti-American and dangerous."

He worries too, that African-Americans who are not Muslim will become afraid of those who are.

"Right now we're going on the offensive working overtime to immediately denounce the acts," he said. "All the Muslim organizations are sending out e-mail messages to the media."

The Muslim Public Affairs Council sent a note saying Muslims share in the entire country's relief that suspects in the sniper killings had been apprehended. They also urged the media not to generalize based on the actions of two men and stick to "the specific facts of this case."

"In any time of crisis there are often opportunities that seek to exploit tragedies and aberrant behavior to judge or tar an entire community," the council said.

The Council of American-Islamic Relations cautioned "against speculation and stereotyping based on the name of one suspect. "There is no indication that this case is related to Islam or Muslims," the group said.

Even if his ties to a Muslim group are established, said Ali, it should not reflect on the Islamic religion.

"He's not a true Muslim," said Ali, who suspects Muhammad has ties to the Five Percenters because of the language he used.

Still, Muhammad's arrest, he said, has focused attention on all Muslims--attention they had hoped to avoid in a time of ongoing crisis.

"We're concerned about his actions that have harmed the whole nation and put Muslims in danger once again," Ali said.